We'll Be Counting Stars
by bjames238
Summary: A romantic valentine's/anniversary weekend for two - what could go wrong? Oh . . . just some mishaps, couples squabbles, alter-ego issues, and hormones . . . Just a short little ficlet for Snowbarry Valentine 2020, inspired by the prompt phrase "I swear it was an accident." (title from the song "Counting Stars" by OneRepublic.) Happy Valentine's Day!


"Honey, it's fine. Really . . . it's not that big of a deal."

Caitlin's feet froze where she'd been pacing the grass on the side of the highway, her heels sinking in with each step. She gathered the bulk of her skirts around her legs, sending a dangerous glare aimed right for her husband. "_Fine!_?" She scoffed, blowing her bangs out of her face. "_No big deal!?_"

"Cait-"

"Don't you 'Cait' me," She huffed. Barry deflated from where he'd been sitting on top of his suit jacket on the ground, wiping the sweat off his brow and cursing this unusual midnight February heat. "'Fine' just doesn't seem the right word to me. Catastrophe seems more appropriate, don't you think? Or maybe disaster. Fiasco? Train wreck? Any of them really…."

"Hey, let's just calm down-"

"Do I _look_ calm to you!?" She shouted. "Barry, we're stranded in the middle of god knows where in the middle of the night with no working phone, no breaches since the universe reset after Crisis, a broken down car, a meddling ice meta alter ego, and a speedster who won't use his speed. And oh yeah, all during the worst fricken heat wave of the winter. Stupid global warming..."

He resisted the urge to smirk, knowing somehow the strange weather (and lack of any cold in the air at all) probably wasn't entirely all global warming, but instead the result of his wife's meta-powers reacting to her stress, adrenaline, and hormones. He'd already seen her make it snow, it wasn't a stretch that she could do the opposite. "We tried running, but it makes you sick right now." His voice was small, not missing the way her hand lingered on the slight swell of her stomach.

Her glare deepened when she followed his eye line, dropping her hand. "Yeah, well, who's fault is that? Besides, I told you to go on your own first and I'd wait here."

At that, Barry let out his own frustrated breath and rose to his feet. "And I already told you there was no way in hell I'm leaving my expectant wife alone on the highway in the middle of the night even for a fraction of a second. Frost or no Frost, you'd still be vulnerable."

"Well then I guess everything isn't _fine_ then is it?" She shot back, turning away from him and heading back to the useless rental car. He could tell she was tugging at the fabric of the dress around her neck. "Oh . . . and as far as I'm concerned both you and Frost can shove it. I never wanted any of this in the first place, but you two just _had_ to persuade me. If you're so smart you figure out what to do. I need to get out of these heels and this heat." He started to follow after her, but as she opened the backseat car door she shot a blast of ice and snow (that immediately melted into water) at him. "Don't even think about getting in this car right now. Frost is lucky she's already in my head or her ass would be out in this blazing desolate _inferno_ with you." With that, she slammed the car door shut.

"Well damn…" Barry muttered to himself, looking around to the empty fields and vacant highways. "We're really in the doghouse now, Frost." He could only imagine the verbal war going on in his wife's split-brain at the moment between herself and her alter ego. Or, if he knew her better she'd be shutting Frost out right about now, much like she'd just done to Barry.

This was definitely not how he'd thought he'd be spending the weekend of their first anniversary and Valentine's Day as a married couple.

When Frost had explained her idea to him while Caitlin slept under the surface, he'd immediately jumped on board. They'd all been under a lot of stress lately dealing with some nasty metas, some tension at Star Labs ever since his divorce with Iris and the custody issues of their daughter Nora after, and then later the planning and the ceremony of Caitlin and his own wedding. And now with their baby on the way . . . he often worried about how the stress of it all was affecting her. But if he told her to slow down, relax . . . it always seemed to stress her out more.

Frost likely felt and heard it more than him, inside Caitlin's head, which is why her idea didn't really surprise him. It was Valentine's Day weekend and the first anniversary of Barry's and Caitlin's wedding, and Frost wanted to plan something special for them to celebrate since it would probably be the last time they'd get to go anywhere alone together before the new baby came. The Ice Queen that comprised the other side of his wife had evolved a lot since she'd first starting showing up all those years ago, and Barry knew how much she cared about Caitlin and all the rest of them. Plus he knew that Frost was excited about the baby too - except for the labor part, she'd firmly called 'not it' for that part.

The weekend had started out okay with them following the itinerary that Barry and Frost worked on together. Nora was staying with Iris for the weekend, so that was all covered and they'd pick up Nora shortly after they got back. Frost had everything all planned out - reservations at a hotel, spa treatments, dinners, daytime activities, and so much more. Really Barry had had to weed out some of Frost's other ideas, either for time to just be together or knowing Caitlin would never go for them.

It had been hard enough to get Caitlin to agree to go along with the weekend festivities in the first place. She'd insisted on a quiet weekend at home, where she had work to do and where they could be close in case the Flash and Frost were needed at Star Labs. But literally every one of their family and friends were on Barry's (and Frost's) side that they should take the weekend as a couple together. Finally it was Cecile and Allegra that were able to convince and get through to her.

Barely.

And . . . now it was likely Caitlin would insist they go home early. If, that is, they ever found a way off of this highway.

"Flash!"

He jumped, turning to find Frost standing behind him. "Gah!"

"Geez, jumpy much?" Frost smirked, one hand on her hip. "Look, this so isn't how I foresaw this weekend going. Like at all. I figured I'd be deep in slumber while you two lovebirds did all the cheesy, romantic, and naughty things. I really wanted Caity to enjoy herself and relax for once."

"I know, I wanted that too." Barry sighed. "It was going fine, it really was. Then the restaurant lost our reservation, and that was a bummer. But we got in shortly after and it was okay. Though . . . they brought Cait the wrong drink at first. Luckily she smelled the alcohol before she drank it. But she took that mostly okay, though she did get kinda sad because wouldn't be able to have a glass of wine for quite a few months yet."

"Honestly, that's been my biggest complaint with this whole body-hijacking-invader baby thing." Frost rolled her eyes. "But as long as the kid is cute I guess it'll be okay. Though you and Caity totally owe me a night at least after its born where I get control and I can get totally wasted." Barry eyed her. "Or . . . not? After this weekend I guess . . . Whatever . . ."

"You're gonna have to take that up with you-know-who." Barry chuckled, knowing his wife wasn't normally a fan of heavy drinking - or more accurately, the hangover that followed it.

"Yeah . . . that one may take a while . . ." Frost shrugged. "So she was sad about the wine, I get it. But it was okay after that?"

"I convinced her to order a second dessert for herself to eat later at the hotel, and that made her pretty excited." Barry told her.

"Ah - Caity's biggest weakness right now. That was pretty genius, Flash." Frost nodded in approval.

"I thought so too." Barry smirked.

"Well, I dunno if it calmed her down or anything but she totally just scarfed that down in the car." Frost said.

"So I'm assuming she's still mad?" Barry said.

"Um . . . yeah. She yelled at me for a long time and then she just flipped. Pulled me to the surface and hid away in her head. She won't answer me back - but I can still feel her anger."

"I figured as much . . ." Barry ran his hands through his hair. "Anyways, then the rental car stalled, and we couldn't find service for either of our phones. As for running home . . ."

Frost scrunched her nose, "Trust me, I felt her stomach heave - not to mention tasted the pasta that almost came back up - that definitely wasn't going to work."

"I don't know how to fix this. And even if we did find a way back to the hotel, she's probably going to insist we cut the weekend short anyways. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. Frost, what are we going to do?" Barry sighed.

"Oh . . . right. That's why I came out here to find you. Caity wouldn't let me talk but I figured you might be a little more willing to listen." Frost held up her hand, a shiny piece of tech in her hand. "Cisco, Ralph, and I went through every possible scenario of anything that might happen this weekend and 'stranded out in the middle of nowhere' was one of them. This is a beacon we can use to contact Star Labs. They'll be able to figure out our location and come get us in no time. They can either take you and Caity back to the hotel or probably just home in Central City if you want."

Barry just stared at her, his jaw slack and his shoulders hunched.

"Yeah . . . I meant to tell you guys about it sooner but . . . yeah. Kinda wanted to make myself scarce this weekend to give you two lovebirds time to do . . . whatever. Plus, Caity's been really good at shutting me out when she's upset lately. Like scary good. But yeah . . . I was going to leave a note in her luggage or tell her when she let me back in again but she never . . . except to yell at me and then I couldn't get a word in edgewise."

"You mean we could've been off this road hours ago? Seriously?" Barry released a heavy breath.

"Sorry . . . I swear it was an accident." Frost sank into herself, her cheeks fading to a darker blue as if she were blushing.

Barry just shook his head, sighing again. "It's fine . . . I guess none of us were really communicating like we should've been."

Frost winced, her free hand on her temple. "Yeah no . . . Caity's back. She . . . um . . . looks like I won't be getting that drinking night to myself anytime soon. See ya later Flash . . . hope you have better luck with her than I am. Oh . . . you just have to push this button on the beacon and they'll get the signal." Frost waved as the white hair, pale skin, and blue lips gradually disappeared and Caitlin stood in front of him.

"Hey you . . ." Barry smiled tentatively.

"Let's just get this over with and go home." Caitlin grimaced, pushing the button on the beacon which lit up with a blinking red light and a beeping sound. "She's lucky we have a way home. Though it would've been nice to know about earlier."

"Frost feels really bad about what happened, and that she forgot to tell us about the beacon. She just wanted you to enjoy yourself this weekend." Barry reached forward to push a strand of hair back that had escaped from her hair tie, but Caitlin pulled back. He let his hand drop, and his eyes followed. "Honey, please . . . I know this weekend hasn't turned out the way we wanted it to but it doesn't have to end. We could have the guys take us back to the hotel or anywhere we want. Or . . . home if that's what you want."

Barry heard her huff, and could see her gather up her skirts again from where he still looked down. He hated that she was so upset, he'd always hated seeing her that way. He looked back up, her eyes now softened with unshed tears as she bit her bottom lip.

"Oh Barry . . ." She exhaled, lifting her hand to rest on the side of his face. His eyes closed as he reveled in the warmth of her hand. "I . . . I know you two did this for us, trying to help me. I've been so awful, to both of you, the last couple of days. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay." He shook his head. "You didn't want to go and we pushed you, you have every right to be upset. I just love you so much, and I wanted us to celebrate this weekend together." Her teeth worried over her bottom lip and he frowned, wrapping his arms around her.

She sighed, deeply, winding her arms around his waist. "I mean, we _did_ get married on Valentine's Day after all."

"Exactly! Double the love, double the fun. Double the romance." He kissed the top of her head, hugging her tighter. "Why not go all out and celebrate."

"At least for this year anyways." She giggled. "Next year we'll have two kids under 4 in the house."  
"We'll still be together." He couldn't hide his grin, even as he was already mentally planning an early morning breakfast in bed for his wife the following year on their anniversary. Her favorite omelette and french toast, fruit, coffee, and flowers. Her waking up to hugs and kisses from Nora and the new baby with happy tears and warm smiles.

"Not all parts of the weekend were so bad. Maybe I overreacted a little . . ." She said. "Or . . . ok a lot."

"Eh . . . it wasn't really you - all those hormones going crazy." He chuckled.

"Yeah no, that was me." She stepped back, her cheeks tinged with pink.

"The look on the waiter's face when you shoved the glass and yelled at him was pretty hilarious though. '_Do you serve all your pregnant customers straight whiskey!?'_" Barry burst out laughing at just the memory. "Guy had pretty impressive recovery skills - I don't think a drop of that spilled."

Caitlin shook her head, also laughing. "He was an idiot - and lucky I didn't take a drink. I wouldn't have needed to let Frost out to teach him a lesson for that one."

"Well it worked, cuz they didn't charge us for anything. Served them right for inciting the wrath of Mama Snow." Barry looked out at the highway, blinking at the sight of a pair of headlights headed toward them. "Well, either this is our ride or this area isn't completely abandoned after all."

"My guess is its Cisco and the others." She scrunched her nose. "We haven't seen a single car anywhere in sight since ours gave out."

"Good point." He nodded. "So . . . did we decide where we want to have them take us?"

"Well . . ." She paused. "It is Valentine's Day tomorrow. And our anniversary. And Nora'll still be with Iris for a few more days. We could see if the hotel in Central City has a room available. That way we'd be close to home but we'd still be away enough to have time to celebrate."

"I love you for compromising, but why don't we just go home?" He suggested. She looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. "We'll still have alone time, and get to sleep in our own bed. I didn't miss the way you've been rubbing your back all day."

"Yeah the mattress at the hotel was a little too soft." She mumbled.

"Exactly." He said. "We'll go home and hibernate the next couple of days. Pajamas - or none - all day, comfort food, Netflix binging - anything we want."

Caitlin sighed contently, leaning into him. "Have I ever mentioned that you're the perfect man?"

"It's been brought up once or twice." Barry smirked.

"And I guess I owe Frost that night out. I mean, this did turn out to be a pretty good weekend." Caitlin said.

"That is entirely between the two of you - I'm staying out of that one. But, I volunteer to be on dad duty and post hangover cleanup whenever either of you need." Barry told her.

"Aww that's sweet." She gushed. "See you should've put that in your vows."

"It was pretty much implied in the whole 'in sickness and health' section." He shrugged.

"Still sweet." She leaned up to kiss him. Down the road, the vehicle headed for them started beeping and soon they could see the 'Star Labs' logo on the side of the van. "Yep, definitely Cisco."

"To home we go - after we go get our stuff from the hotel. When they drop us off, first I'm going to draw you a hot bath to help ease those sore back muscles and then I'm going to spend the rest of the weekend making sure you're so relaxed you forget everything else." Barry whispered in her ear.

"Promises, promises Mr Allen." She kinked an eyebrow.

"Vows, remember? I keep my promises." He wound an arm around her, pulling her closer and lowering his lips to hers.

"You know, we went about this whole 'stranded on the side of the road' thing all wrong." She kissed him again, grabbing hold of the collar of his shirt. "If I had just been able to keep my hormones in check, we would've had hours out here to ourselves to do _anything _we wanted."

"I like where your head is at, Dr. Snow. We'll have to file that away for next time." He traced the line of her dress down, pulling her closer.

"Geez guys, didn't you book a hotel room for that!?"

Barry felt her lips smile against him as they both turned to find Cisco, Ralph, and Allegra getting out of the van. Their arms still wrapped around each other, Caitlin hid her face in his chest. "Kinda ran into a snag . . ." Barry gestured over to the broken down rental car.

"It's a good thing Frost and I prepared for this then." Cisco rolled his eyes, shaking his head. "C'mon - let's get you two out of here. But hey - hands to yourselves in the van."

Caitlin and Barry giggled, pulling apart from another kiss.

"Our lovebirds are definitely feelin' the V-Day love." Ralph chuckled as he and Cisco hooked the rental car to the back of the van.

"You two are so adorable." Allegra gushed.

They all piled into the van, everyone quiet on the drive back. He and Caitlin were in the way back, with everyone else further up. Caitlin wound her fingers through Barry's and their eyes met. She smiled, and he grinned back, laying a quick kiss on her lips. She lifted their hands, resting them low on her stomach and leaning into his side. It wasn't long before she started snoring softly and the brown in her hair bled to white.

Frost yawned, nuzzling further into Barry's side and squeezing his hand. "Hey Flash." She whispered. "Everything all good?"

Barry kissed the top of her head. "All's forgiven. But we are going to finish the weekend at home."

"I heard some of it." Frost nodded. "And Caity and I did have a little talk in our heads."

"See? Weekend wasn't a total loss. And since Cait's asleep - I already have an idea for next year." Barry told her.

"Oh boy . . . this one going to get me in trouble?" Frost laughed.

"Nah - she'll definitely be on board for this one." Barry assured her, telling her of his breakfast in bed plans.

"That's pretty genius, Flash. And sneaky - using the kiddo cuteness like that." She nodded in approval. "By the way, you better deliver on that promise for the rest of this weekend - or we may both be in the doghouse again."

"Oh I definitely intend to." Barry just laughed.

"Good." Frost yawned, rubbing her stomach. "I'm taggin' out for a while then. This mini-me of yours and Caity's has our insides all messed up." She scrunched her nose, closing her eyes. Caitlin rose back to the surface, though still asleep.

Barry wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head again, smiling contently. He watched out the window as the highway drove by and his friends joked around in the front of the van. Caitlin mumbled in her sleep and he chuckled, returning his hand on top of hers over her belly.

The weekend may not have ended up where he thought it would, but he was definitely looking forward to where it was going. And, he was excited to see what the rest of the year would bring - and to finally meet the life growing inside of the woman he loved most. Caitlin was already so great with Nora, he couldn't wait to see her with their little one too.

They'd been through so much together already, and after a year of marriage he didn't have any doubt there were still so many more adventures in store for them.

_fin_

P.S. If anyone wants to write a continuation of Barry's determination to make Caitlin relax the rest of their anniversary/Valentine's weekend at home, be my guest - I'd never be able to do it the justice it would deserve.


End file.
